Nuisances
by Claire O'Mack
Summary: A lot can be said when you think you maybe close to the end, it makes the truth seem even more imprtant. Rated as T but may have to change.


Nuisances

"This is way beyond what I would call beyond the call of duty." Kathryn Janeway said as she pulled herself out of the mud pit they had managed to wade into. She took a look back at Tom Paris who was trying to hold his nose and navigate his way though the sludge at the same time.

"You won't get any argument from me." Tom replied his voice sounding funny with his nose being so tightly pinched.

"I blame you by the way." Kathryn said trying to dislodge a clump of the foul smelling mud from her pants leg, and managing only to smear it further in.

"Me? I managed to land the shuttle didn't I." Tom said slightly pissed at the fact that he was talking to his Captain here and not Harry or B'elanna. If it had been, Tom would have certainly told them where to get off.

"Yes but you could have aimed for slightly closer to the city, we are miles away now, and no one knows where we are. Plus I think I have swamp water in my comm badge." Janeway said pausing to flick her communicator in what was a ridiculous attempt to dry it. Tom stopped on the bank of the swamp, he looked over at his muddy, dishevelled Captain and began to laugh. Her steely blue eyes turned to him slowly, the look would normally have had him shutting up in a second, but now, her hair plastered to her face. Nose covered in mud from her hand, and the smell of what only could be described as rotting poo all around them, Tom couldn't help himself. It took Kathryn only moments to join in, she couldn't help it either, it was either laugh or cry and right now laughing seemed like the far better choice.

It had been a routine trade mission, well as routine as trade missions went in the Delta quadrant. The planets inhabitants seemed friendly enough, but a little xenophobic. Their planets atmosphere was pretty inhospitable, frequent and unpredictable ion storms in the upper troposphere prevented a team from beaming down, or from completing the trade simply by using the transporters themselves. The Talazari the planets inhabitants had agreed that Kathryn and one of her crew members could fly down to the planet to complete the trade. Due to the planets atmospheric disturbances the choice had been simple.

Kathryn and Tom had set off in the shuttle, and for most of the journey Tom had made piloting the shuttle look effortless. Kathryn was quite sure it was in fact far from that, the ship rocked from side to side, but not once did it go out of control. Having broken though the worst of the storms, and coming out on the other side into what appeared to be calm pleasant weather, Tom had turned to look at Kathryn and tell her something. The words never made it out of his mouth, a rogue down draft had caught the ships left nacelle, they were in a free fall before they knew it. Tom managed to stabilize the shuttle enough to land it, but they had been too close to the ground for him to do it with his usual finesse. After clambering out of the wreckage Kathryn had been grateful that they were both still alive and relatively ok. With little option, they gathered up supplies they would need and began walking. It became fairly obvious quite quickly that they had landed in a very remote part of the planet.

Now stood laughing at one another, having barely walked a mile from the shuttle, Kathryn took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"Mr Paris." Kathryn said in her best Captain voice, it got her the desired effect as he straightened himself and pulled on his uniform.

"Sorry Captain." Tom said feeling a little bit stupid now, they had no idea what was in these swamps and the light was already fading around them. Kathryn nodded to him slowly, the small gesture of understanding passed quickly before them as they continued onwards. As Tom walked he watched for signs of life all around him, but so far he had seen or heard anything. Perhaps, he thought the planet does not have birds, due to all the ion storms. His thoughts for a while drifted, wondering about how they controlled the weather, if Harry was panicking yet, and if Chacotay had sent in Voyager after them. Of course after he had had stern words with the Talzarian ambassador. Before Tom knew it it was dusk, they had been walking for hours, and with only brief stops to drink he was beyond tired. It was however Kathryn that called a halt of their trek through the swamp. She held up her hand to him her head slightly bowed and her other hand resting on her hip.

"We should stop here for the night, don't want to run the risk of one of us falling in to those mud pits and drowning in the darkness." Kathryn said with a slight smile on her face as she relocated herself to a downed tree. She sat slowly upon the log and placed her hand at her side. Tom noticed immediately and started fishing around for his medical tricorder. Finding it Tom went to her and took out the scanner.

"I am fine, its just some bruising." Kathryn said waving Tom off but he wasn't having any of it. He had already fixed the scrape on her head, and his sprained wrist, but Kathryn had not told him her ribs were hurting.

"I know you are, but I need to check anyway, the Doc would kill me if you came back with any injury I had ,at least, not tried to fix." Tom said looking down at her with his best puppy dog eyes and Kathryn sighed.

"Fine go ahead." Turning her face away as Tom ran the scanner over her injured side, Kathryn winced when she heard his slight intake of breath. Kathryn knew something was wrong with her ribs about half a mile after beginning their journey. What had started off as a little niggle, turned into a dull ache, then a sharp pain on every intake of breath. Hoping that it would simply correct itself, Kathryn had ignore it, in favour of covering as much ground as possible. She knew if she told Tom he would want to stop, examine her and then rest. Now she had no choice, as he sat down next to her he turned his eyes upwards and caught her gaze.

"Your fourth rib is broken, and the third has a hairline fracture, I will need to repair them." He said his face unwavering, but Kathryn could see the turmoil in his eyes.

"Do you have what you need to do that?" Kathryn enquired looking at the small backpack Tom had been carrying, knowing that it was unlikely to contain a bone generator.

"No but I can support the ribs with a bandaged and administer you with some pain killers, I also have a dermal regenerator which should help with the bruising." Tom said moving back to his bag and getting out what he required. He did not turn to look at Kathryn as he gathered up his things and laid them out to use.

"You will need to take your shirt off." He said his voice coming out far quieter than he had intended. After all he was a medic and he was just going about healing his patient. And yet there was something very wrong in asking ones Captain to remove her shirt.

Kathryn was struck with the words for a moment that they paralysed her, for quite some time she did not move, just sat there staring down at Tom, who had not lifted his eyes from his equipment. Kathryn knew this was no time to be embarrassed, Tom was, for now her Doctor, this needed to be done, it wasn't like he had just propositioned her or anything. Blowing out her breath forcefully though her lips Kathryn pulled the zipper down on her uniform tunic and carefully removed it. Having gotten out of one arm of her under shirt, she then tried to lift it over her head. The sharp pain in her side stopped her. Hissing though clenched teeth and eyes filled only with the grey blanket of her shirt she called to Tom.

"Tom could you help me please I am stuck." Her words were light but the pain in her voice got Tom moving quickly. Getting off the ground and ignoring the exposed flesh of his Captain, Tom gently lifted the shirt over her head and then passed it back to her. The brief glance into her eyes told Tom she would want it back to cover herself with, as much as possible that was. Focusing his thoughts on the job in hand. Tom began with the dermal regenerator. Running it across the sore ribs he saw the skin go from an angry purple to a more sedate red. Then he gave her a pain killing hypo-spray. Finally he picked up the bandage, not thinking about her left breast which was now right in front of his face Tom wrapped the bandage just below her bust, covering her ribs and holding them in place. Tom was worried that if the broken rib should move, it could puncture her lung. The merger medical equipment he had brought would not be sufficient to treat such an event.

Bandaging done Tom stood back and admired his work. Kathryn felt a slight tingle down her spine as he looked at her. His blue eyes studying her form so carefully that Kathryn almost forgot, who and where they were.

"Do I pass?" Kathryn asked needing to fill the silence, as it was becoming increasingly awkward. Tom's eyebrow quirked slightly at his shirtless Captain, who coloured with the realisation of what she had said. Not wanting to make matters worse Kathryn pulled her shirt back on, this time with less effort thanks to Tom's administrations.

"Maybe we should think about getting some sleep." Kathryn said trying to move on from her earlier comment as Tom started putting away his equipment.

"Yeah its getting pretty cold, maybe we should start a fire." Tom said as Kathryn suddenly realised that the temperature had indeed dropped. Putting it down to simple numbness from being tired, Kathryn stood up and collected her tunic from the log. Looking around she saw plenty of kindling to start a fire with. Bending down and picking some wood off the floor Kathryn hissed again and stood up quickly. It seemed like Tom's best efforts had not managed to completely alleviate all of her pain. Passing what she had manage to retrieve to Tom he gave her a simple smile and said.

"Why don't I collect the fire wood and you see what we can have for dinner, I'm starving." Tom knew Kathryn would never admit to being in pain, so giving her a way out was the easiest solution. Her acceptance of his offer, with no fight or glare meant she was probably in more pain than Tom realised. Knowing there was nothing he could do for her right now, Tom set about his task of making a fire, the wind had now picked up, and they were going to need it soon.

Kathryn had found a couple of field ration packs in her bag and was now heating them over the fire. The planets nights were no where near as warm as the days, and the chill on her back was starting to make her shiver. Tom had been scanning the area for possible water sauces, they were running low, and they had at least another day, if not more of walking before they reached civilisation. Coming back to join Kathryn on the log he sat down heavily next to her. She was looking into the fire and stirring the pot which sat atop it. She seemed not to be concentrating on what she was doing and as Tom looked at the pot he could see it beginning to boil over.

"Whoa, I forgot what a great cook you were." Tom said making reference to her past attempts at making anything beyond coffee. Kathryn frowned at him as Tom placed the hot pan on the ground and picked up their bowels.

"Ok no one can be brilliant at everything, everyone has a weakness and mine is cooking, if you like we could discuss your weaknesses Mr Paris." Kathryn said her voice sounding threatening, but the wide smile on her face let Tom know she was in fact joking. Realising that right now they could both use a little distraction, Tom decided to continue with the Captain playful mood.

"There is only one weakness you need to worry about right now Ma'am." Tom said a look of mischief in his eyes. It was like he was daring her to ask him what that weakness was as Tom handed Kathryn her bowel. Kathryn was not sure this game was a good idea, alone here in the dark. Knowing that later they would probably have to sleep together for warmth. That idea was playing havoc with her mind right now, and Tom's over lingering look was not helping. Even after all that though Kathryn could not resist the challenge in Tom's eyes, she never backed down from anything, let alone her hansom young pilots teasing.

"Oh and what is that Tom, you secret like of older women?" Kathryn said her words were in jest, but Tom's look told her that she had hit on something with more than a little truth to it. For a moment Tom was silent his dinner bowel sitting untouched in his lap, the moment went on long enough for both of them to realise they had gone too far in their teasing. Both of them knew that their had always been a subtext to their relationship, one that neither would admit to, especially to each other.

"I guess every young man has that particular fantasy." Tom said finally taking a bite of his broth and slurping it slightly. Kathryn simply smiled glad to be out of that awkward conversation, but also glad that Tom did it so gracefully.

"You know this is quite nice mac and cheese." Tom commented after a few moments and Kathryn frowned at him.

"It's chicken."

After dinner was finished, mostly in silence except from the several comments on how cold it was, and how far they thought they had to go. Kathryn realised the time had come to go to sleep. Looking at Tom now she saw him spreading out his ground mat and she pulled out hers from her backpack. Placing it down next to Tom's she was surprised when he didn't say a word, the single thermal blanket was in her bag, it was the only one they could recover from the wreckage, the other one had been sucked out somewhere on the planet. Kathryn now spread it out across both of the ground mats and saw that it was going to be tight to get both of them underneath it. Saying nothing she manoeuvred herself below its limited warmth. Turning onto her good side and protecting her ribs she felt Tom climb in behind her. His long body pressing all the way along her smaller one. The heat from his skin bled though his uniform, her skin, in turn tingled where he was touching her. Refraining from shivering Kathryn closed her eyes and willed her body in to submission. She could here Tom's breathing behind her, slow and deliberate, and she realised that she was not the only one struggling with this. Listening as the wind whistled around them causing the fire to flicker at their feet Kathryn was surprised by the sound of Tom's voice behind her.

"I never thought I would say this Captain, but you smell bad." That was followed by a small laugh from him, his body shaking behind her. Kathryn couldn't help herself she joined him once more in the laughter, breaking the tension between them once more as Kathryn opened her eyes and turned her head towards him. He was far closer than she imagined but she paid it no mind.

"I still blame you." With that she turned and settled now in to the comforting warmth of his embrace and fell into a peaceful slumber.

The morning brought with it more blazing sunshine, they thankfully were getting used to the smell, but Kathryn was longing for a bath. They had awoken at first light and had began walking as soon as they had packed everything up. Nothing was said about last night, or waking up entwined in each others arms. Now Tom walked behind the Captain watching for signs that she might need another pain killer. She had been moving with a slight hitch in her stride, but had yet to make any noise to suggest she was in much pain. Tom knew she wouldn't say if she were so he was having to watch fairly carefully. In his observations Tom was not watching where he was going, the next thing he knew he was face down in a puddle of sludge. Struggling to remove the sticky thick substance from his eyes and mouth, he felt a pair of hands grab him by the armpits. With something to leverage himself on Tom got his legs underneath him and pushed himself up out of the sludge.

"Your stronger than you look." Tom said as he doused himself with some water to wash away the grime. His armpits were sore from Kathryn's efforts and he smelt worse than ever before. The smell was up his nose now and he couldn't escape from it. Feeling a little mad and also fed-up he was surprised when he looked down and saw Kathryn's shoulders shaking. Her face was looking down at her own shoes, and he could see her dirty hair rippling with her movement. Horrified that she might be crying, having hurt herself lifting him from the sludge he went over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She backed up from him like a scolded cat, her face snapping up to his, her mirth now evident as she tried to suppress her giggles, and at the same time placing her hand over her mouth and nose.

"Please stay at least ten feet away from me at all times, you smell like death." Kathryn said between breaths as she tried to control her laughter. Tom was not in the mood for this right now, at least she could get away from him. He had no choice but to live with it.

"Fine laugh it up, but you know karma has away of coming around and biting you in the ass." Tom said striding off in front and keeping to her rule of ten feet. Not worrying about keeping an eye on his Captain now Tom stewed in his own anger for the next half an hour. He had not looked back once, and as he pushed though the next part of the forest as it seemed to thicken again he wondered what Kathryn was thinking. She had not spoken a word since his fall, and had been all but silent in her trek behind him. Refusing to look back and give her the satisfaction Tom walked on plotting his revenge.

Kathryn was feeling really guilty about laughing at Tom's misfortune, it was so unlike her, but she couldn't help it. At first she had been seriously worried about him. Thinking he was hurt, maybe even badly, that was until he had pushed himself up, and looked like something out of one of those horror films Tom had showed her. Now he clearly wasn't speaking to her, and Kathryn understood that it was up to her to make things right again. Making an effort to catch up to Tom now, she pushed herself though the undergrowth and gained on the distance between them. There was still no sign that they were close to the edge of the forest, but Kathryn was hoping that someone had seen their ship go down. The Talazari had ways of getting signals though the ion storms, even if Voyager had been unable to get round them, Kathryn was sure however that they would have been working on it. Holding out the hope that one or other would find them sooner or later, Kathryn had been increasingly praying for sooner. Her ribs hurt, she was hot and sweaty, smelled bad and was now trekking through the forest with her pilot who was not talking to her.

"Tom, why don't we see if we can locate some water." Kathryn said coming up behind him now and placing her hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at her, and Kathryn tried to convey her apology in her eyes, but Tom either didn't want to see it, or he simply didn't recognise it. He merely nodded his head and stopped. Waiting while she pulled out her tricorder and scanned the area. Kathryn frowned at the readings, nothing seemed to be staying still, her readouts were fluctuating so badly that she couldn't even tell which direction they were headed.

"Nothing, well nothing I can say for definite, there must be some kind of magnetic interference in these woods." Kathryn said worrying now that they were even headed in the right direction. They had been pretty much following the path of the sun. at least they knew then they were not going in circles. It also from the shuttle sensors, what was left of them anyway, seemed to be the direction for the nearest city. Tom now looked down at her, he could see the way she was holding her arm limp at her side, her face was red and dirty her auburn hair lay stuck to it, a mass of tangles now falling from the make do ponytail she had placed there. Tom's anger faded then almost all at once, his plans for revenge pushed away like they burnt him now.

"We will find something I know it." Tom said now wanting to place his arm around her shoulders, but knowing she probably wouldn't appreciate it, Tom refrained. Kathryn looked up at him and nodded quickly pointing towards what looked like a thinning in the trees.

"That way I think." she said moving off with what looked like some effort. Tom stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"I think we need to give you some more pain killer, and I should check your bandage." He said looking down and hinting that she should take of her shirt again. Kathryn sighed but did not put up any argument. This time successfully undressing herself Tom re bandaged her ribs, and gave her a hypo-spray. Kathryn thanked him with a look, pulling her under shirt back on she stuffed her tunic in her backpack and continued walking.

It felt like forever before they stopped again, both exhausted and thirsty they had not come across any drinkable water. There supplies were almost gone, even after rationing them, and now Kathryn could feel her head start to spin as she walked.

"We need to stop." She said finally, knowing Tom knew perfectly well she meant she needed to stop. He had noticed her slower pace and the hitch in her stride getting worse. Now genuinely worried about her he quickly got the camp ready while Kathryn sat and fiddled with her communicator. She had tried half of last night to get it to work, and now, tired, hungry and feeling worse for wear she was having no luck.

"Damm thing." She shouted throwing it to the ground and taking in a deep breath. Tom was surprised by her outburst. He could count on one hand the times Kathryn Janeway had raised her voice. Now he didn't know what to do, he could offer her no words of comfort that would have any real meaning. Oh he could say they would be fine, that help was coming, but he knew as well as she did that they were in trouble.

"You need to eat something." Tom said getting the dinner started as he knelt down beside her, taking out another pair of field rations and stirring them into the pot. After a few minutes silence Tom decided that perhaps lightening the mood might help, if only for a short time.

"Do you fancy playing a game?" He asked turning to her now and seeing a small smile appear on her face.

"And what game did you have in mind Tom, because I don't believe we have any bottles to hand." Her joke was a welcome response, and Tom couldn't help putting on his best disappointed face and giving her a lopsided smile.

"Oh well guess we will just have to save that one for another time." He replied actually enjoying the flirting now. For some reason compared to last nights awkwardness, this seemed more appropriate now.

"So what game did you want to play?" Kathryn asked now actually intrigued by his suggestion. Tom sat up straighter now and turned so he could look at her.

"How about truth or dare?"

Kathryn sat for a moment thinking about Tom's suggestion, on the one hand she was pushing away from it as fast as she could. Too much danger her mind screamed, but it also held possibilities, there were things she wanted to know about her chief helmsman. He had always been a sauce of intrigue to her, something that she had never examined too closely, but now here alone and in serious danger of not making it back this time Kathryn's heart won out.

"Ok but you can go first." Kathryn said as Tom dished out the dinner and took a tentative sip.

"Umm ok I love tomato soup." Tom said with a small grin, but that wasn't going to fly with his ever tenacious Captain.

"Truth or dare?" She asked a hint of excitement in her voice as she spoke. For a moment Tom thought he might be clever and say dare, but there were plenty more swamps around them, with which he may have to take a dunk in again, so he closed his mouth before he could speak too soon.

"Truth." He finally said sipping on his soup once more and then looking back at her.

"Do you ever think about the children we had when we were, altered?" Kathryn asked it was something they had never discussed, but something she herself had always wondered about. Tom sat upright and truly thought about the question. Now pausing in his eating and taking in a slow breath he replied.

"Not really, I did for a while at first, but to be honest I was more concerned with how they came to be." Tom said deciding that this was truth or dare and he may as well answer as truthfully as he could. Kathryn was surprised by his response, she just assumed that as animals they had simply followed their instincts. It had never occurred to her that Tom was feeling some kind of guilt over it.

"Truth or dare?" Tom asked her before she could question him further on the subject and Kathryn had no choice but to answer.

"Truth." She replied, not having to think about it at all, she could only imagine what Tom Paris would come up with for a dare.

"Ok did you an Chacotay ever you know get close when you were trapped on that planet?" Tom asked his cheeks slightly colouring as he finished his bowel of soup. Kathryn almost choked on hers as she swallowed. Only Tom would be brave enough to ask her that question. She had gotten wind of the rumours, they had inevitably died down after a while, but it was obviously playing on Tom's mind.

"No we didn't, I think Chacotay would have liked something to have happened, but it never did and it never will." Kathryn replied with the same openness Tom had sown her previously.

"Good." Tom said placing his bowel back in his pack, having nothing to clean it with he packed some gauze around it to mop up any remnants. Kathryn was surprised by Tom's response, he sounded glad, as though the thought of her with someone else would have angered him.

"Truth or dare?" Kathryn said before she could dwell on it too much longer, and Tom replied quicker this time with 'truth'

Kathryn thought about her question, it was something she had wanted to ask all her crew, but had never really dare to. Only Chacotay really knew of her struggle with being stuck out here, now she had to know what Tom's thoughts were.

"Did I make the right decision when I destroyed the caretakers array and stranded us here?"

"Yes." Tom said with no hesitation, Kathryn took a small sigh, whether it was relief of just gratefulness she wasn't sure, probably a bit of both.

"Being out here has been the making of me, I thought I had lost my way, would never be able to wear this uniform again, you gave me that chance." Tom continued as Kathryn poked the fire and added more wood.

"You made me want to give you that chance Tom, I didn't just hand you anything." Kathryn said now offering him a warm smile as he sat there simply looking at her. This was actually pretty liberating, there were things that neither had said, that under normal circumstances would have been. Stuck out here, trapped together for what could be a life time, turned every sentence into the topic of the week. People especially the pair sitting around the fire now, had learnt to keep their deeper emotions to themselves. One through the necessity of being a Captain, keeping her crew at arms length, the other because he didn't want anyone to know the real Tom, not yet.

"Truth or dare." Tom asked before the silence grew awkward again and Kathryn predictably asked for truth.

"If it turns out that we are out here for a long time, would you ever consider being with one of your crew? And who would it be?" Tom asked now the mischievous grin returning to his face as Kathryn put down the stick she had been poking the fire with.

"That's two questions, I believe it's only one per turn." She said in an effort to avoid both questions but Tom was not going to be fooled that easily.

"Just the first one then." He said forcing her into an answer and Kathryn shook her head.

"I truly don't know, at the moment the answer would be no, there is too much at stake for me to be distracted." The way she said distracted didn't sit right with Tom, it sounded like she was talking about someone in particular, but she had answered his question and it was his turn.

"Truth." Tom said before Kathryn had even asked him and she nodded, realising what direction this evening was taking.

"Why do you feel guilty about what happened between us when we were changed?" Kathryn asked , she had for a moment forgotten his earlier response to her question about their offspring. Now it seemed like a good time to ask him about it.

"I don't, not any more anyway. At first I wondered if I had forced you, or hurt you in anyway. I couldn't remember, not even a moment. I realised that what ever happened it wasn't me, I would never do that to anyone especially you." Tom said now catching her eyes and holding her gaze. His words echoing in her ears as he continued.

"I have always wanted to tell yo that, but never found the right time." Kathryn reached out her hand and patted him on her arm. His skin was warm to the touch and she felt a little spark of something pass between them before she retreated.

"Out of any man on Voyager who would you see yourself most likely to end up with?" Tom asked this time not bothering to ask Truth or dare. It was an extension of his earlier question and Kathryn saw it coming.

"I really haven't thought about it." She said but it was a flimsy line and she knew Tom would never just sit back and take it. Chacotay probably would have done just that, he never pushed her on the awkward questions, but Tom was far wiser to women, and particularly to her it seemed.

"Oh no you have to pick one or we will all get a go." Tom said this time smirking and folding his arms across his chest. Kathryn reached out to swat him, but he dodged the half attempt easily. Looking at her pointedly and raising his eyebrows. "If you tell me yours I will tell you mine." Again Tom knew how to push her buttons. The challenge was issued, the reward stated and Kathryn couldn't help but answer.

"Damm my stubborn streak." Kathryn exclaimed as she felt the heat rise on her cheeks before she had even spoken.

"I lied to you." Kathryn opened with, Tom sat quietly thinking she was going to say something about Chacotay and her time on the planet with him. Her next words shocked him into silence.

"I lied when I told you I had never thought about sleeping with you." She stopped there allowing Tom to fill in the blanks as his face went from shocked back to smug.

"Well now I was going to say Jenny Delaney, but now your on offer I might change my mind." Tom said after a small pause. This time Kathryn's hand found his arm, in a slightly stinging back hand. Tom held onto it as Kathryn just sat and looked at him, with a glare that spoke volumes.

"I was being serious." She said now looking at her feet and then back up to his face. Tom lowered his eyelids in a slow blink. Bringing them back up to meet Kathryn's gaze he shook his head.

"I never knew, I never even thought you would think of me that way." Tom said all smugness gone now and all that was left was the bare truth. Both now sat together an uncomfortable silence hung between them.

"Truth or dare?" Tom asked filling the silence but breaking none of the tension.

"Truth."

"Would you ever act on it?" Tom asked a little afraid of the answer, but also a little excited at the same time.

"I don't know, that's the honest truth, there are so many things to think about." Kathryn said keeping her eyes on Tom so that he would know that she was in fact speaking to him from her heart.

"Truth or dare?" Kathryn asked then knowing what she wanted to ask him, and hoping he would, as he had been all evening honest with her.

"Truth."

"Would you regret anything if we died out here?" Kathryn asked him as Tom again had to really think about it.

"I would regret a few things, but nothing I could do anything about, except one, knowing whether you ever made up your mind about acting on your feelings." Tom replied, he had moved closer to her somehow. Kathryn was sure she hadn't seen him move, but he was defiantly closer. His leg now was almost touching hers, and his shoulder bumped into her own as he shifted slightly on the ground.

"Truth or dare?" Tom asked looking now into her eyes and seeing the pupils grow large, the firelight flickering in them catching his full attention.

"Dare." Kathryn said and Tom let a hint of a smile touch his lips.

"Kiss me." He said leaning in before she could think about it too much. Her lips were slightly dry and cracked. Her hair smelt like something had died, and Tom was sure he was worse. But even so it was the best kiss he had ever had. The spark than ran between them now collected around their lips, causing them both to shiver in response to one another's touch. Tom's hands found their way into her hair at the base of her neck. Pulling her deeper into the kiss until he claimed her mouth completely. Kathryn almost melted at his touch, it had been so long for her and in truth something she had wanted for a while now. Her hands made it to his shoulders as he pushed her back against the ground. It was hard and gritty, but Kathryn didn't care about that right now. Her world had been narrowed down to the warm hard body pressed against hers, his need for her evident against her thigh. Kathryn shifted a bit so that Tom slipped between her now open legs. His approving groan into her mouth made Kathryn smile around his latest assault on her mouth.

Pulling off Tom's tunic and then winding her hands under his shirt, for the first time she felt his skin. It rippled slightly under her touch, his hands also finding skin below her neck and across her collar bone in return. These simple touches seemed to be igniting a fire in Kathryn she thought she had put out long ago. Resigning herself to being alone for the duration of their journey, she had filed away her desires and locked them in a box. Only opening it when she was alone. Now as Tom removed her clothing, she couldn't help the gentle mewing coming from the back of her throat as he touched her. His long fingers that she had watched dance across the helm so many times, now making her body sing like Voyager did when Tom was piloting her.

Tom had never felt so alive, he was thirsty, trapped in a smelly forest, rescue was seeming less and less likely, but his body was humming with life. Every whimper, every sharp intake of breath was fuelling him, and when his name dropped off her lips as he entered her Tom felt like he could at least die happy. Not knowing if this would ever happen again, even if they made it out Tom made every moment last, committed every inch of her to his memory, and when it was over and they were once again huddle beneath the thermal blanket Tom closed his eyes and saw it all before him once more.

Waking up with the dawn, Kathryn was more comfortable than she had even been, wrapped in Tom's embrace, she for a moment, lingered there. Getting up slowly knowing they had to get moving Kathryn looked down at him as his eyes fluttered open with her movements.

"We have to go." She said her voice was soft but her eyes told him everything. It was like she was saying goodbye to him, not because she had given up trying to get back to Voyager, but because she knew one way or another this would never be happening again. Tom nodded and got up, packing up their things they headed out once more. Silence lingered between them, the water had been drank and now Tom was starting to feel dizzy. He fought it, fighting to continue onwards but his body was not doing what his mind was telling him, looking back he could see Kathryn struggling to. Without a word he stopped, let her catch up and hooked his arm under hers. Lifting her slightly and helping her support her own weight. Finally the forest ended, green fields lay before them, but no one was in sight. Kathryn slumped onto Tom. He was now holding up almost her full weight as they stood their in the sunshine.

"We have to keep going." Kathryn said finally lifting herself up of Tom's side and continuing onwards.

"Truth or dare?" He asked his voice horse from lack of water and Kathryn stopped and turned to him.

"Truth, always." She said with a wry smile.

"Do you think we are going to make it?" Tom's question hung in the air like stale smoke, Kathryn knew she should say yes, that something would came along, as it always did. Voyager would rescue them. The Talazri would come and find them, but she had promised him the truth.

"I don't think our chances are good." In the end Kathryn couldn't bring herself to say no, there was always hope, but as usual Tom understood her, he always had. Kathryn realised that was why she had found him so appealing, his unique ability to make her feel at ease, no pressure no demands. She offered him a sad smile before she sank to the grass and closed her eyes. Tom was by her side in a moment, his hands running along her neck and down to the dip at her waist. He checked for signs of breathing and saw her chest rising and falling in shallow pants. There was nothing he could do for her right now, taking out the tricorder he scanned the area. Not holding out much hope he was elated to find that now they had cleared the forest it was once again working. Attaching his communicator to it Tom managed to get a signal. The voice of the Talazarian on the other end was like music to his ears. Giving only a location and keeping the comm line open, Tom sank into the grass next to his Captain. Allowing her shallow breaths to caress over his neck, Tom closed his eyes and remembered their night together. Knowing now that they were going to be ok, Tom started hatching a plan, so that her implied goodbye that morning may at some time be rescinded.

Kathryn awoke as the transporter beam left her lying on Voyagers transporter pad. Chacotay, the Doctor and Harry were all stood around them in an instant, all but the Doctor backed off as he ran his scans. Kathryn started to stand, Tom took hold of her arm and gave her a knowing look. Trying to ignore the slight suggestiveness of that glance, she noticed that the rest of her crew were silent, all except for the Doctor who was muttering about poorly mended ribs and dehydration.

"Well don't all help at once." Kathryn said as Tom and herself helped each other off the transporter pad.

"Sorry Kathryn but you stink." Chacotay said as the room dropped into an uneasy silence before Kathryn, then Tom then the rest of them broke down in laughter.

THE END- please let me know your thoughts. Perhaps a sequel? Thank you for reading XxX


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